


Cut Along the Dotted Line: Outlines for Fics I'll Probably Never Write

by PanickedScribbles



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Crazy Azula (Avatar), Family Drama, Fire Lord Zuko, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Legal Drama, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Child Abuse, Sibling Rivalry, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23013982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanickedScribbles/pseuds/PanickedScribbles
Summary: This is entirely fic outlines that I'll probably never get around to writing, but that I think would be good enough to read if I did.Chapter 1: Family Drama is Temporary, But Banishment is ForeverGoal: Get Zuko crowned Fire Lord.Problem: Zuko is still technically banished, and therefore legally not allowed in the Fire Nation.Solution: Zuko takes Zuko on a life changing field trip. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Azula & Ozai (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ozai (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & The Fire Nation (Avatar)
Comments: 42
Kudos: 468





	1. Family Drama is Temporary, But Banishment is Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The One Where Zuko's Hair Matches Sokka's and Other Tales](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632206) by [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goal: Get Zuko crowned Fire Lord.
> 
> Problem: Zuko is still technically banished, and therefore legally not allowed in the Fire Nation.
> 
> Solution: Zuko takes Zuko on a life changing field trip. What could possibly go wrong?
> 
> Reading MuffinLance's great fics inspired me to create my own account and start writing. The only problem: motivation is a fickle mistress and I didn't want to let these ideas fall by the wayside without actually posting anything. So, I decided to post the outline. Who knows, maybe one day I'll finish an actual story to go with these.

Zuko is in line for the throne. Ozai has been deposed, Azula has been beaten in an Agni Kai, and Uncle has disappeared in a puff of smoke, presumably so he's back in time for the grand reopening of his tea shop. Zuko is about to become Fire Lord.

Except he can't.

See, Zuko was never officially unbanished (for a second time), and as such can't legally be in the Fire Nation. The coronation _has_ to be performed in the palace and it _has_ to be legally A-OK, or people will try to question the legitimacy of his rule.

No biggie, right? Just get him unbanished, and then crown him. Nope! Things aren't that simple (and honestly, when it comes to Zuko, are things ever that simple?)

See, Zuko's banishment came directly from Fire Lord Ozai... which means it can only be revoked by the Fire Lord... who was just deposed. Ah.

But, it's no problem, because the Fire Lord is required to leave a second-in-command to make Fire-Lord-Only desicions, should they ever be indisposed. All we need to do is find Ozai's Second and we are good to go!

...what do you mean it's Azula?

So Azula is the only person who can make Zuko Fire Lord, but won't because she want that position for herself (and also kind of hates him), but can't just use her Second powers to name herself Fire Lord and be done with it because she lost that right when she (cheated, and subsequently) lost her Agni Kai with Zuko.

The only person who can actually become Fire Lord is Iroh, who just vanished off the face of the earth. Zuko needs to find Iroh, so Iroh can beat him in an Agni Kai, get crowned, unbanish him, and then abdicate to him so that he can finally start running the country.

The bulk of the fic is Zuko road tripping with a rotating roster of the Gaang (some of them need to stay in the Fire Nation to keep war from breaking out again as people scrabble for power) and assorted others (Mai, Ty Lee, Suki, Song, OC's, everyone can have a guest appearence). He slowly assembles his own mini White Lotus of allies and informants who aid him in his intentional quest to find Uncle and his unintentional quest to learn enough about how the other countries are reacting to the end of the war, so that he doesn't accidentally restart it as soon as he's finally Fire Lord.

All this is half fluff, half crack, until Azula escapes and starts hunting him down. There are a series of confrontations where Azula attacks Zuko, but between his own skills (firebending, swordsmanship, stealth, quick thinking) and the help of whoever is travelling with him, he always wins.

With every loss, Azula grows weaker and more desperate to finally win. Eventually she realises that Zuko's strength is _The Power Of Friendship_ and resolves to separate him from his allies, and gain some of her own. How, you ask?

By breaking Ozai out.

She starts a riot and releases Ozai. She's in a hurry so she frees his arms and legs but leaves the metal collar on. Zuko sends the Gaang off to stop the riot and catch Ozai while he faces Azula. Alone. Sunset streams into the courtyard as the siblings face off against each other. Azula fights well, and with the strength she is known for, but weeks of trying to survive alone in the wilderness with no wilderness survival training and no one to rely on are catching up. Couple that with Zuko's new and improved non-standard firebending and all the cool tricks he's learnt from his friends, and Azula can't keep up.

Azula loses. Azula loses to Zuko, and Zuko alone. She is beaten and broken and she just lost the last constant in her life (one-on-one she's always stronger that Dum-Dum). She asks Zuko how he did it, how he finally got stronger than her. He says something profound and moving about how he learnt from his friends, learnt to rely on them, learnt to trust them, learnt to believe in them when he couldn't believe in himself. How she fought desperate and wild, but he fought knowing that even if he lost, his friends would stop her and find Uncle without him.

Azula is broken and completely deviod of hope when Zuko asks for her help. She is _SO_ confused it's almost funny. Zuko tells her that he never really got taught how to rule the Fire Nation, and that she was always better with the politics than him anyway. So, he'd like her help with running the country. She'd be "a most valued councilor." 

There are tears and grumpy refusals to acknowledge said tears and hugs and half-hearted attempts to avoid hugs. This is the happiest either of them have been in each others presence since long before Zuko's first banishment.

Pity Ozai still manages to escape. Kinda ruins the mood, y'know.

Everyone scatters to sweep the forest and find him. Zuko stays in the prison so he can take Azula to the medic. Turns out, Ozai was hiding in the guard office near the entrance and corners Zuko as he tries to leave to help the search. He challenges Zuko to an Agni Kai, to regain his title as Fire Lord. Zuko points out that he can't rule the _Fire Nation_ without _Firebending_. It's kinda in the name.

Ozai doesn't care. Ozai has deluded himself into believing that as long as he defeats his "worthless son" using fire, it'll count. He grabs two flaming torches from the walls, mirroring Zuko with his dual dao.

Logically, Zuko knows he's already won this fight. A non-bender is attacking a firebender with _fire_. Doesn't take a genius to figure out how that story ends. But emotionally? Emotionally, Zuko is a mess. He's already worn out and full of feelings he's too tired to deal with and actions he's too tired to figure out the implications of. And now his father is trying to hurt him with fire! This situation is hitting too many trauma points for Zuko to deal with it well.

He runs.

Zuko flees into the forest, seeking the shadows for hiding the same way he always used to. Ozai gives chase, lighting fires as he goes. Zuko is barely coherent, flickering back and forth between the present and every nightmare he's had in the past 3 years.

He runs headlong into one of his friends who calms him down enough to function. * _Insert Gaang Member Here_ * goes into crisis management mode and starts gathering everyone in the forest together so no one gets left behind. The fires begin to surround them but Zuko opens a hole in the flames to get them through the fire safely.

Everyone spends the rest of the night putting out fires, trying to stop the whole forest from burning down. As dawn breaks, someone (probably Sokka) finds a charred corpse curled up at the foot of the tree. It looks like they died terrified, and in agony. All identifying feature have been lost to the flames... except for one. A metal collar around the neck, the kind you'd find on a prisoner. The collar has melted into the neck and cannot be removed. Insert "Fire Nation death ritual of cremation" joke.

Final chapter is a sort of where are they now segment.

Azula removes Zuko's banishment and Zuko is crowned Fire Lord with her blessing.

Uncle was never in the Earth Kingdom, or at the poles with the Water Tribes. He was taking a slow route back to Ba Sing Se by boat, when at about the halfway point, he realised that in his rush to make sure he hadn't left the kettle on at the tea shop, he was going to miss his nephews coronation and turned around. He pulls into the harbour the same time Zuko and the Gaang arrive back. Uncle later opens a floating tea shop that serves as a neutral ground for many negotiations.

Zuko becomes a very good Fire Lord, and Azula takes great delight in showing off her fearsome skills and then telling politicians and diplomats that Zuko can beat her in a fight. He probably can't now that she's at full strength but she "doesn't see the need to fight, because when I inevitably win, it would only be responsible of me to take over from you, and I'm in no rush to sit through all those negotiations. I might kill someone out of boredom, and then where would we be?"

Ozai's severed, crispy head sits in Sokka's hut. He uses it as a conversation piece, but always lies about it, never actually revealing it's true origin. He never tells anyone that he found Ozai's corpse (Zuko had enough trauma, thank you) but if someone were to pay attention to the metal collar on the neck, they might figure it out. If anyone ever does, they are happy to keep that secret to themselves. The rest of his body is never found (buried by Toph as one final insult).

Everyone lives happily ever after. Except Ozai. But honestly, no one's complaining about that.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things.
> 
> 1\. This is the first piece of writing I've ever posted on Ao3. This means that I don't know exactly how Ao3 works yet. Stuff is probably formatted incorrectly. If you spot something I've done wrong, and know how to fix it, feel free to comment and tell me.
> 
> 2\. This is the first piece of writing I've ever posted. This means it isn't great. The fact that I wrote all of it in about three and a half hours probably doesn't help. If anyone has tips on how to improve this mess, I'm happy to hear them.
> 
> 3\. This is a fic full of outlines I'll probably never get to. If any of you want to take one of these ideas and run with it, go nuts. Do whatever you want with these. All I ask is that, if you post them, you credit this fic as the inspiration/original idea.
> 
> Edit: Now featuring a better ending one chapter over!


	2. Family Drama Ending 2.0: The One Where I Don't Forget Iroh Exists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new and improved ending to the last chapter. Now with 100% more Iroh.
> 
> This was inspired by commenters Takua and CorundumBleu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a number of people weren't entirely happy about the ending of my last outline. I was one of those people, but I couldn't figure out a way to write myself out of the hole I'd written myself into in a way that felt natural and didn't ruin my original intent. Then several people pointed out that, for a fic supposedly about chasing Iroh, there was a frankly unforgivable lack of him in the actual story. Thus, this ending rewrite was born. I'm a lot happier with this one, and I hope you are too.

So, as soon as Azula escapes, Iroh starts tracking her. Not sure why I didn't think of that the first time. Oh well, 2020 is the year of hindsight after all.

Anyway, turns out Azula is _way_ easier to track than Zuko. Who knew cutting a huge, extremely obvious swathe through the countryside might negatively affect your ability to be stealthy? You learn something new every day.

Iroh follows her trail to the prison where Ozai is being kept, which is strange because, according to the guards, Zuko hasn't been there yet, and up until now Azula has been following him.

Iroh starts to get suspicious about why Azula came here, when all of a sudden Zuko appears. Iroh's concerns are soon forgotten in the face of seeing his beloved nephew again. There are lots of hugs, lots of catching up, the occasional angry yell ("What do you mean you turned around!?! Do you have any idea how long I've been chasing you in circles because of that? Do you!!!?") and overall, just a lot of good times.

And then the alarm goes off. 

They quickly run in to offer help and find out what had happened. Iroh immediately charges off after Ozai. After all, stopping his brother's reign of terror was always supposed to be his responsibility, not that of a gang of children. Everyone else splits up to capture the rest of the escapees. The Zuko/Azula fight remains mostly unchanged, only now instead of it being one long, unbroken scene, we switch back and forth between their fight, the Gaang capturing prisoners and Iroh hunting Ozai.

The prisoners are a minor diversion.

Katara has a fight against a firebender. They fight in the high security underground area. There isn't a fresh supply of air which limits the amount of firebending that can be done, but there isn't a fresh supply of water either, which means any water the fire evaporates isn't coming back. Katara ends up winning by swallowing some of her water, then spraying it out of her mouth as a thousand tiny shards of ice, right into his face. Katara promises to heal his wounds if he comes back to his cell quietly.

Sokka has a fight against a non-bender Earth Kingdom bandit leader. They fight in the wardens office. The guy is Boulder levels of ripped and is wielding a metal bar he tore off his cell. Sokka's cheap replacement sword shatters after a few pipe blows. The space is cramped, making it hard to dodge such a large weapon, but also making it hard to swing it. Sokka throws everything at this guy: his boomerang, the wardens chair, half the contents of the bookcase. In the end, Bandit Man goes for an overhead strike, gets his bar stuck in the ceiling, and doesn't notice when Sokka slams a paperweight directly onto his foot. Bandit man hops around for a minute, nursing his definitely broken toes, before Sokka crash-tackles him out the window and into the conveniently placed cart of straw below. Bandit man is K.O.'d and Sokka is regretting all his life choices and trying to remember how his lungs work.

Toph goes after a Fire Nation soldier who was part of the invasion. He recognises her and gives up without a fight. Toph spends most of the walk back to the cell trying to convince him that attacking her is a good idea. "Look, I'm blind! You could go for a surprise attack, I'd never _see_ it coming." "Nuh uh, I saw you knocking airships out of the sky! There is no _way_ I'm gonna try anything!" "Oh come on! Why did I have to get the wimp."

This is a really good spot to explore the dynamic of Ozai and Iroh, something the show never really did. We've got Iroh, a genuinely good person who likes to see the best in people and give them second chances, but who is completely capable of being cold and hardened if the situation calls for it. We've also got Ozai, a monster who can barely be classed as human on a good day (and after having his firebending taken and being locked in a damp, dark dungeon for months, today is **Not** a good day.), who is very good at manipulating people and using their own humanity against them.

The hunt takes place in the dark corridors of the prison and culminates in the kitchen with Iroh getting locked in the freezer. The "fighting", if you can call it that, mainly consists of a back and forth between Ozai and Iroh. Their battleground is echoey so Iroh has a hard time getting more than a general direction from the sound of Ozai's voice. Ozai spends most of the time trying to play on Iroh's emotions. Y'know, those things most people who aren't Ozai have.

Rough idea of their interaction- Location: nondescript dark hallway, extremely foreboding.

Ozai, speaking from somewhere in the darkness, "Ah, this brings back memories. You and I, hiding from each other in some forgotten corner of the palace. Do you remember, brother?"

"That always was your favourite game."

"Indeed. And if memory serves, you never used to be any good at finding me."

"You and I both know I used to go easy on you."

Ozai's voice seems to shift from in front of Iroh to behind him. "You say that, but the facts tell a different story. You couldn't find me then when we were playing a game, and you can't find me now, with your precious nephew's life on the line."

"I would not be so certain, _brother!_ " Iroh suddenly bends back, throwing a fireball straight up, into the rafters. Ozai throws himself from his perch to avoid it.

He quickly sprints along the passage, throwing himself through the first door he finds. Iroh gives chase. He bursts through the door to find...the kitchen. There are plenty of waist-high rows of cabinets to hide behind, and plenty of small spaces for the now-malnourished Ozai to squeeze into. Imagine the kitchen scene from Jurassic Park if the kids were raptors too. That's the vibe I'm going for with this scene.

Ozai resumes talking. "Touched a nerve there, did I?" You know, I've never understood why you cared so much about that useless waste of space."

"You should not underestimate Zuko. He is far stronger than you ever cared to know."

"Aren't you the little hypocrite. You never cared about him either, until your brat died."

"Do not speak of Lu-Ten that way!"

"Why not? You seem to have done a fine job of replacing your son with mine!"

With a shout, Iroh hurls a fireball deeper into the kitchen. Something explodes. Flames begin to spread.

Ozai continues. "Honestly, you should be thanking me! After all, I'm the reason you got a second chance at being a father, and believe me, I know how much better the second time is."

"What do you mean?!"

"Isn't it obvious? Don't tell me you never suspected foul play? What, did you really think Lu-Ten being hit by the only poisoned arrow ever fired from Ba Sing Se was a _coincidence?_ "

Iroh sees a flash of movement in a room at the end of the kitchen. He charges, fists ablaze with righteous fury and a war-cry caught in his throat.

The door swings shut behind him. It locks. Iroh suddenly notices how cold it is in the room.

Long story short, it's a freezer. It was originally installed to contain Ozai, before his bending was taken. It has since been converted into a food storage room.

Ozai takes the opportunity to grab some of the wooden shards created by the explosion. They'll serve him well as torches.

Now, we know that Zuko can keep himself warm with the breath of fire. Iroh is even better with it. By the time the focus shifts from Zuko & Azula back to him, he's melted a hole straight through the door.

Zuko's fight with Ozai starts the same. Zuko stays behind to get Azula to a medic. Ozai hides in the prison while everyone else searches the forest. Ozai corners Zuko as he leaves to help with the search. Ozai has the torches, Zuko has a ptsd flashback, Zuko runs and Ozai gives chase, lighting fires as he goes.

This is where things diverge. Azula, never one to stay down, has already shaken of the medics and is on the ramparts (I'm not sure if that's something prisons have, but I mean the part where archers would sit on the roof) of the prison, looking out at the forest.

She sees Zuko, running back towards the prison. She sees Ozai chasing him. She thinks about how this is the perfect opportunity to kill Zuko and win her fathers favour. She thinks about both of them. She thinks about how when Ozai said she was valuable, she felt like a tool being used. She thinks about how when Zuko said it, she felt like he cared about her, the way Mother always cared about him. She thinks about how her friends abandoned her. She thinks about how her father left her alone. She thinks that Zuko wouldn't have done either if Ozai hadn't banished him.

She fires a lightning blast. It doesn't hit Zuko. It was never meant to. It doesn't hit Ozai either, which is more annoying, but she did shake off that medic pretty quickly. The lightning blast does hit the ground between the two of them. Zuko dives forward. Ozai falls backward, scrambling away on his hands and knees. He drops his torches.

A fire starts between Zuko and Ozai, blocking the path between the two of them. Zuko doesn't look back, he just keeps running blindly towards the prison, towards safety...right into Iroh's arms.

After a very hyperventilate-y hug, Zuko realises that his friends are still out in the forest searching for Ozai. The same forest that is rapidly burning down. He, Iroh and Azula set out to make sure nobody is in the danger zone (cue Kenny Loggins) and to evacuate them if they are.

All members of the search party are found safe and sound. Between the three firebenders and the Gaang, the forest fire is slowly beaten back and put out. 

All that's left is Ozai. His corpse is still smouldering when they find it. Iroh kneels before it, reaching out with his bending to stoke the embers. The fire picks up. Zuko and Azula kneel next to him, and do the same. The fire burns brightly before dying away. All that is left is dust, ash, and a melted prison collar.

Zuko lets out a shaky breath and stands up. There is a big group hug before everyone starts walking back.

Sokka, in an attempt to lighten the mood, makes a joke about being disappointed they burnt Ozai, and how he'd wanted to turn him into a cape like his father's wolf pelt. Everyone in the tribe would respect the guy who came back wearing a Fire Lord pelt.

Zuko, who still doesn't quite understand what jokes are or how they work, says that Sokka can have his pelt when he dies. Sokka now has to try and explain that he was joking, and that he didn't actually want to wear Zuko's dead dad as a hat, and that he _definitely_ doesn't want to wear Zuko as a hat. Azula lookes like she's trying to decide whether to kill Zuko, Sokka or herself. Katara looks similar. This may be the start of a beautiful friendship. Toph is now being carried by Iroh because she's laughing too hard to walk.

The epilogue is mostly unchanged except that, instead of acting like a psychopath, Sokka makes his own fake Fire Lord pelt to show off to all the little kids in the Southern Water Tribe. The kids think he's the coolest person ever, "even cooler that that rabbit-fox we found frozen in the snow!" Everyone else thinks it looks terrible, except Toph, who thinks "It's the best pelt I've ever seen!"

**And everyone lived happily ever after.**

**Except Ozai, who was dead. Oh well, you can't please everyone.**

**The End 2: Electric Boogaloo**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This rewrite, much like the original chapter, was written late at night. Unlike the original, it was edited after a good nights sleep. This is a lesson I will take with me into all my future fics.


End file.
